“In Oyekan v. Adele 14 W.A.C.A. 209, Verity, C.J., after defining at p. 213 the nature of estate or interest vested under Native Law and Custom in a chief, at page 214 said- “It would appear, therefore, that the estate or interest vested in the ruler in royal estates or stool land is to be distinguished on the one hand from land vested in him beneficially as absolute owner alienable by him at will, and on the other hand land vested in himself and his family beneficially and of which the Chief or head of the family is sometimes referred to as a ‘trustee’.”
CUSTOMARY LAW – Customary Land Tenure System – Nature of the estate or interest vested in a chief
CUSTOMARY LAW – Doctrine of Repugnancy – Whether Courts will give effect to or enforce native law and custom which is not repugnant to the principles of natural justiceCUSTOMARY LAW – Onitsha Native Law and Custom – Whether a wife of a deceased member of a family could become the owner of the property of her deceased husband by virtue of long possession